What had to be done
by Slytherin-Abbyforever
Summary: Tabby. Tragedy and loss compliant with the series. What would happen if someone found out that Kelly Gibbs had been one of NCIS' favourites for some years. 14 chapters in first post. Complete


**TITLE: WHAT HAD TO BE DONE**

**Pairing: Abby/Tony**

**Author: Me, Abbyforever**

**Spoilers: Hiatus, even though I wrote this long before seeing the ep. I have tried to repair the storyline since to make it a little more canon compliant, but it really isn't. **

**Warnings: ****Abby/Gibbs father daughter relationship. If you don't like, don't read. Personally, I love Gabby as a pairing, but I wanted to write this so I did. **

**Posted in one chapter despite being 14 chaps long, cos, who can be bothered uploading and etc etc etc. Painfully long, if you thought this was a one-shot. Complete. **

**I gave it a quick read through but I haven't really beta-ed it since I first posted it on LJ years ago. My apologies on any mistakes. **

CHAPTER 1.

"Kelly, come and have dinner." Gibbs called upstairs as he finished setting the table.  
"I need another minute." The nine year old called back.  
"That girl has got you wrapped around her finger." Shannon said laughing as she put the lid back on the pot.  
"And she knows it." Gibbs confirmed.  
"Yes." His wife replied.  
"What is she doing anyway?" He asked.  
"You think I understand?" Shannon scoffed and they shared a laugh.  
"She's nine and already doing things we don't understand?" He asked shocked.  
"Looks like." Shannon confirmed.

"Duck." He said into the phone to his oldest friend.  
"Jethro, what's the matter?" Ducky asked when he could hear the sadness and panic in his voice.  
"Some bastard killed Kelly and Shannon." He said and the combination of fear and despair was so evident that Ducky was upset for him instantly.  
"What happened?" He asked.  
"The agent protecting them was shot and ran off the road, then they were shot." He growled.  
"I'll be right there." Ducky said and the phone disconnected before he had a chance to hang up. "Where are you?"

"What's happening?" Ducky asked as soon as he reached his destination. There were a few police cars and an ambulance still there.  
"Shannon didn't make it, the crash killing her instantly before the bullets could. Kelly probably won't." Gibbs said and he couldn't help but shed tears at the realization that his family had just been ripped apart.  
"Oh Jethro, I am so sorry." Ducky said sincerely.  
"I am gonna find whoever did this." Gibbs said angrily and Ducky believed that was true.  
"Of course you will. Where is Kelly?"  
"The hospital but she was shot in the back and the head. The paramedics aren't confident at all. What am I going to do, Duck, without them?" Gibbs asked.  
"Kelly will be fine." Ducky tried not knowing if he was trying to convince Gibbs or himself.  
"You don't know that." Gibbs snapped.

"As we gather to celebrate the lives of young Kelly and Shannon, we should not feel sad. They are not truly gone, if those that knew them honor their memory." The celebrant said reading from his book in front of all the grieving people gathered around the two coffins still above ground in the cemetery. One smaller than appropriate for when death should get a person in life.  
"Jethro." Ducky called after his friend as he walked away from the ceremony that he just couldn't bear anymore.  
"No Duck, I don't want to be here now. I'll come back." Gibbs called back interrupting the celebrant.  
"When?" Ducky asked.  
"When I'm ready."

"I am so sorry." Gibbs said to Shannon's headstone long after everyone had left.  
"I knew you'd come here." Came a voice from behind him.  
"What the hell do you want?" Gibbs asked knowing full-well who this person was.  
"You. I didn't want them, not ever. This has always been about you." The man wielding the gun revealed.  
"Why? Who sent you?" Gibbs asked as he had figured out this was the bastard that killed his family.  
"That won't matter to you once you are dead." He said putting the gun to the back of Gibbs head.  
"I am already dead, I have nothing else to lose." Gibbs said flatly and drew his concealed weapon knocking the shooter's weapon to the ground and generally disorientating him. He then held his Sig in place and shot twice. He didn't plan on killing the man, he would later find out to be Thomas Cleary, but after the hit-man refused to give up the name of the person that hired him, he wish the double tap had been to the chest or the head, and killed him. Prison didn't seem enough.

CHAPTER 2.

"Abs, you have the results for me yet?" Gibbs asked entering the lab, Caf-Pow in hand.  
"I need another minute." Abby said taking the cup. "Thanks."  
"Let me know." He said going for the exit.  
"Hey." She called after him.  
"Yeah." He called back.  
"You wanna talk about it?" Abby asked.  
"I don't know what you are talking about." Gibbs said unconvincingly.  
"Please. Who do you think you're talking to? I know what day it is." Abby pointed out.  
"I'm fine." He lied and tried to leave again.  
"Come on. I know exactly why you have been biting everyone's heads off today."  
"Abby, drop it." He instructed coldly.  
"See, now you're trying to get mad at me." Abby said seriously.  
"I could never get mad at you but I really don't want to talk about it." Gibbs said sadly.  
"You can't even mention what it is? Say her name." She instructed.  
"Abby!" He said getting angrier.  
"I miss her too." Abby said and he calmed instantly again.

Abby returned to her desk after taking the results to Gibbs and found a letter on the desk address, Abigail B. Sciuto. She opened it and after reading it dropped to the ground.

_**Kelly Abigail Gibbs,  
It was clever of you and your father to pull such a stunt but it was never gonna last forever. We understand that this day is hard for both of you, but then again… we don't really care. You think that a name change was gonna keep us away, very wrong. Now we know exactly where you are, Kelly and it is over for you and daddy dearest. You should have stayed dead. It's sweet that you are now working together, plus it makes it a hell of a lot easier for us to finish what we started all those years ago.**_

Yours sincerely.

"Abs, what's wrong?" He asked as she bolted out of the elevator looking very disturbed.  
"I just got this." She said slamming the letter, now in an evidence bag, down on the desk in front of him.  
"Kelly? How the hell did they find out?" Gibbs asked angrily.  
"I don't know. We got rid of every single remnant of Kelly Gibbs." Abby said and the tears were seconds from falling.  
"Could be a bluff." Gibbs said.  
"On the day Mom was killed, with knowledge of her death few people know, calling me by my full name, telling me that they know I'm alive? I don't think so." Abby said.  
"Kel, listen to me for a second." He said trying to think logically.  
"Don't call me that." Abby snapped.  
"Sorry. Listen Abby, I need you check for prints, test the paper, ink, envelope. All of it." He delegated.  
"Okay." She said robotically and he could tell she was distracted.  
"Abs." He called after her.  
"Yeah."  
"Don't worry. They didn't get you nineteen years ago and there is no way they will get you now." He said confidently.  
"I'm scared." She said honestly.  
"I'll keep you safe." He promised.

"Ducky." Gibbs called into autopsy trying to get his old friend's attention.  
"Jethro. Little early for a body, isn't it?" He asked.  
"Duck, I have something to tell you. Very important." He said seriously and Ducky was absent of any anecdotes or stories worthy of interrupting this.  
"Okay." He said.  
"You know how much I value you as a friend. But there is something I had to keep from you for so many years."  
"What is it?"  
"See, the fewer people that knew the better. Plus I didn't want to put you in danger with the knowledge." Gibbs said not able to get it out.  
"Jethro, tell me."  
"Kelly." He said simply.  
"Jethro, I know today is the anniversary of Shannon and Kelly's deaths but…" He started.  
"She's alive, Ducky." Gibbs said interrupting.  
"I know this day is hard for you but…"  
"Kelly is alive. We had to pretend that she died for her own protection." Gibbs explained and Ducky just walked over to the cabinet where he kept the alcohol and two glasses bringing it back.  
"Good Lord." He said as it sunk in.  
"I'm sorry Duck, but we couldn't tell anyone." Gibbs said accepting the alcohol gratefully.  
"Is she okay? I mean why would you tell me after all these years, on this day?' Ducky asked worriedly.  
"She's fine for the moment. But the bastards that hired Cleary are back and they know she's alive." Gibbs said sadly.  
"Can I see her? I mean if she's already been exposed, I have missed that girl for nineteen years." Ducky said and the reality of the situation was just too much that he had to lean on the bench to remain standing.  
"Nineteen is a bit of an exaggeration." Gibbs revealed.  
"What?" Ducky asked not understanding.  
"You have seen her since then." He hinted.  
"What are you talking about?" Ducky asked rapidly losing his patience.  
"You have seen her nearly every day since she was twenty-four years old." Gibbs said knocking on the metal doors that closed off autopsy. The automatic doors opened to reveal Kelly, now twenty-eight years old.  
"Abigail?" Ducky asked in shock as he saw the girl he thought was a stranger when she started at NCIS.

CHAPTER 3.

"Sorry Duck. We wanted to tell you." Abby said as he started to tear up.  
"I don't believe this. It can't be." He said struggling to look at Abby.  
"Look at the eyes, Duck." Gibbs urged him.  
"I have always recognized those eyes but I just assumed that Abigail had the same. I never suspected that she was Kelly." Ducky said.  
"Prettiest green eyes in all the world, huh Uncle Ducky?" Abby asked him starting to feel choked up herself.  
"I haven't said that since your funeral." Ducky said.  
"Yeah, we were so sorry we couldn't tell you. It must have been so hard."  
"But now, my dear, we have you back." He said hugging Abby as if he hadn't seen her in nineteen years.  
"Don't cry Uncle Ducky." Abby said as she felt him crying on her shoulder.  
"I can't help it. I knew there was something about you on your first day here." Ducky revealed.  
"It was so hard not to hug you silly when I had to pretend to be a stranger with you." Abby said.  
"So, what happened exactly? All I can gather is that you dyed you hair and became a forensic scientist." Ducky said pulling away from Abby but keeping his arm around her.  
"Well, straight after the, you know, I moved away with this deaf couple. Gloria and Steven Sciuto." Abby started.  
"How did you communicate with them?" Ducky asked.  
"They had a son that could hear, named Andrew. He would translate for me and them until I picked up sign language."  
"And you taught Jethro?" He asked already knowing that Gibbs knew ASL but not knowing why.  
"Yes. Also made it easier for the two of us to talk here and never let anyone know of our relationship." Abby said.  
"So then…" Ducky urged her.  
"I lived with them until I went away to college. I used their name and my own middle name, and thus Abigail Sciuto was born." Abby explained.  
"I had no idea." Ducky admitted.  
"Probably a good thing." Gibbs said.  
"So then I studied forensic science at college in New Orleans where the Sciuto's lived anyway. Got my Masters' and moved back with my father and his current wife." Abby said teasing.  
"That would have been number three?" Ducky asked.  
"Yeah, the one with the baseball bat. So then unknown to Gibbs I applied for a job here and got it, obviously." Abby said with a smile.  
"What a bizarre story." Ducky said pouring himself another drink.  
"Thank you." Abby said.  
"Explains a lot. Not to sound horrible, but how did you survive being shot twice, both in very dangerous spots. And not only survive but also, where most would end up with brain-damage or in a vegetative state, with one of the most brilliant minds I have ever seen." Ducky said at once.  
"Thank you. I was in a coma because of the shot to the head, but with no real long-term damage. However the bullet to the back only damaged one disk and after lots of physical therapy, it is only sore after hours on my feet. You have probably seen me going around the lab on my computer chair." Abby said.  
"Yes, I just thought that was because you can." Ducky said.  
"No."  
"I should have suspected that you were Gibbs' daughter. You two are exactly alike, but when I met you that I knew you were going to give him a run for his money."  
"It's scary sometimes how much like him I am." Abby said pointing to her father.  
"Hey." He said in protest and she stood next to him and leaned into him.  
"I am not insulting you. I am simply pointing out that I don't think I got anything from Mom other than her hair." Abby said.  
"Not true. You have the same energy and lust for life that she had. And of course…" Ducky started only to be interrupted by Abby and Gibbs.  
"…The prettiest green eyes in all the world." They said in unison and then they all started laughing.  
"Exactly. I can't believe I didn't suspect something, you haven't changed as much as you think. If I had of known that you survived and I did the math in my head, I could have realized." Ducky said defensively.  
"Of course my darling." Abby said.

"Are you coming, Abs?" Gibbs called from near the door when Abby and Ducky would not part.  
"Right behind you…Dad." She said and then giggled at the absurdity that came with that declaration.  
"That was weird." Gibbs said even though he was smiling.  
"True. I haven't called you that in how long now?" Abby asked.  
"Many, many years. Understandably." Gibbs said putting an arm around his daughter's shoulders as they walked out of autopsy into the elevator. As the doors to the elevator closed two heads poked out of the stairwell.  
"Kate, did you just hear what I heard?"  
"Yes, and it didn't sound like a joke. Especially cos they didn't know we were here." Kate said and they started to freak out.  
"It can't be." Tony said as the got back into the stairwell and started the climb back to the bullpen.  
"Why not?" Kate asked thinking about all the unexplained things.  
"Cos it's Abby and Gibbs."  
"Yeah." She asked as if it was obvious.  
"You believe that?" Tony asked.  
"Think about it. Who is the only person Gibbs buys coffee for other than himself?"  
"Abby." He said instantly.  
"Who is he overly affectionate with, at times inappropriately?" Kate asked.  
"Abby."  
"Who could get away with anything, with Gibbs?"  
"Abby."  
"Who has an equal addiction to caffeine as Gibbs?" Kate asked.  
"Abby."  
"Who is the only one who is allowed to break rule 12, as we speak?" Kate asked.  
"Only Abby. Wait, what are you talking about?" He asked.  
"McGee."  
"Oh yeah."  
"And who is getting the kind of preferential treatment Gibbs would only give his daughter?" Kate asked as they finally reached their floor.  
"You think?"  
"Absolutely." Kate said.

"Hey Tim." Kate called out as they came back into the Bullpen and didn't see the other two.  
"Yeah."  
"Where is Abby and Gibbs?" She asked.  
"Gibbs is getting coffee and Abby went back into her lab. Why?" He asked.  
"Have you ever met Abby's parents?" Tony asked.  
"I have met her mother but her father died when she was twenty-two. Why?"  
"What was her father's name?" Kate asked.  
"Steven."  
"Sciuto?" Tony asked.  
"Of course. What is this about?"  
"And her mother?" Kate asked.  
"Gloria. Nice lady."  
"Doesn't she have a brother?" Kate asked remembering a mention of him.  
"Andrew, yes. Why?" He asked yet again.  
"Does he look like Abby?"  
"Not at all."  
"Does he act like her at all?" Tony asked.  
"Not really. He is very introverted and quiet. Pretty much, total opposite to Abby. Now will you tell me what this is all about?" He asked frustrated.  
"Nothing." They said in unison and then walked away.

"What have you got for me DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he returned with one coffee and a Caff-Pow. Kate just smiled at Tony when he walked in.  
"You wanted me to see what Abby had on the letter." Tony said.  
"Thanks for the history lesson. What have you got?" Gibbs asked again getting frustrated.  
"Well she hadn't had much time for any tests when I went to check on the results, spending all that time with you in autopsy." Tony revealed.  
"How did you know that?" Gibbs said suspiciously.  
"Boss, Kate and I went to see about the results and when she wasn't there and you were no where to be found, we thought to check with Ducky." Tony explained.  
"What do you know?" Gibbs asked both.  
"More than we did when we came out of the elevator." Kate admitted.

CHAPTER 4.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Abby, what are you doing here?" Gibbs asked as his daughter came down the stairs from MTAC and the director's office.  
"Nice greeting. I work here." She said proudly.  
"What? You can't do that." Gibbs said getting up and approaching his daughter.  
"Relax. This is the first time we have ever met and it was the director who hired me. I never mentioned our relation, not once." Abby said trying to get him to trust her.  
"Abby." He tried authoritatively.  
"Agent Gibbs. It will be a pleasure becoming a part of your team." Abby said smiling.  
"This isn't going to work."  
"So long as you only call me Abby and I only call you Gibbs or something like it, we'll be fine." Abby said convincingly.  
"Hopefully."  
"Jethro, I see you have met our new forensic scientist Abigail Sciuto." The Director said coming down the stairs.  
"Abby, please." Abby said pretending she was giving permission for Gibbs to call her that.  
"Okay Abby. Please call me Gibbs." He said awkwardly.  
"Okay. Director Morrow, when do I start?" Abby asked.**_

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"There is a valid reason why no one knows Abby is my daughter." Gibbs started and McGee's head perked up hearing Abby's name and then the information that followed.  
"What?" He asked.  
"Shut-up Probie." Tony said having just received confirmation from Gibbs that their suspicions were right.  
"So it is true?" Kate asked.  
"Yes." Gibbs said. This was one if the reasons that he never wanted to tell anyone about he and Abby because somehow everyone ended up finding out.  
"Go on." Tony tried and after receiving a glare from Gibbs he did.  
"My first wife Shannon and I had a daughter, Kelly. When Kelly was nine, a man came into my house and killed Shannon and shot Kelly in the head and the back. Contrary to that, she survived but we knew she was better off if they thought she was dead. I buried her mother and an empty casket, then sent Kel off to live with a deaf couple."  
"The Sciuto's." Kate said.  
"Yes."  
"That's why you wouldn't tell me why you learned sign language." Tony said finally putting a few more pieces together.  
"Yes. So she stayed with them until she got into college. She earned her Masters and then came back to live with me and her step-mother." He continued with his three agents hanging on his every word.  
"Wife two or three?" Tony asked only to cop a smack to the head.  
"Three."  
"Wouldn't that have been dangerous for Abby?" Kate asked.  
"No, because she had already changed her name by that stage, colored her hair and had stopped calling me dad." Gibbs said quietly.  
"Colored her hair?" Tony asked.  
"This was what she looked like when she was nine." Gibbs said pulling a picture out of his drawer, the only picture he could keep with him and his daughter in it even though she was alive. The one of them both working on the boat.  
"Blonde?" McGee asked.  
"Yes. So after she moved into her own apartment, she got the job here even though I was not aware she was applying. You pretty much know the rest." He finished.  
"Yeah, that's about it." Abby said scaring McGee from behind him.  
"Abs. We had no idea until today."

CHAPTER 5.

"The mailroom has got another letter addressed to Abby." Tony said as he returned from the current mission Gibbs had sent him on.  
"Where is it?" Gibbs asked.  
"On its way up here with Bio-hazard dudes." Tony said casually.  
"Okay. Good. It is to go to Abby and you go with it. Stay until she has results." He instructed.  
"You got it, Boss."  
"Kate, I want to know how this bastard found out about Abby and who she is." Gibbs said. "I'm going to see the director, be back in an hour."  
"How am I supposed to find that out?" Kate asked Tony.  
"I really don't know. Good luck with that."

"Hey Tony, come bearing gifts for me?" Abby asked spinning around in her chair.  
"Just one. A letter, that has been isolated for you to be able to test." He said handing over the box that had the letter in three separate bags.  
"Great. I'll call you when I have something." Abby offered taking the letter and moving it into the isolation box to be tested.  
"Gibbs wants me wait for the results here and not come back without them." Tony explained.  
"Lovely. So what are you thinking?" Abby asked noticing his hesitance.  
"Oh, I wanted to tell you that Kate thinks you and McGee are still…"  
"Really? Least she still believes that. Means we're being subtle." Abby said smiling.  
"Yeah, but this is going to be so weird now." Tony said sitting down at the desk.  
"Why? McGee has some other girlfriend now and Kate doesn't have to know." She said standing in-front of him.  
"That's not what I mean." Tony said.  
"What do you mean?" Abby asked putting her hands on his shoulders. He automatically grabbed her waist and pulled her closer.  
"Well, now I know I am not only risking my job by continuing this affair with you." He said.  
"What are you talking about?" She asked.  
"You're father will not only fire me but he will then come after me and kill me." He said.  
"He didn't have a problem with McGee."  
"Must you remind me. Plus it is different to the Probie, he isn't Gibbs' senior field agent."  
"What does that have to do with it?" Abby asked.  
"He expects more from me, and if he finds out…" He said.  
"Don't worry about it for the moment. Just let me get the results on this letter so that Gibbs doesn't want to kill us both." Abby said moving out of his grasp.  
"So he is going to kill me?" Tony asked.  
"Well, I don't know." She said honestly.  
"Thanks for the reassurance."

"What does Abby have?" Gibbs asked as Tony returned from the lab.  
"There is nothing there other than the letter, no biological material or anything. The letter was pretty graphic though. It was a little upsetting for Abby which is why it took so long." Tony said sadly.  
"What? Is she okay?" Gibbs asked worriedly.  
"There were pictures there of Shannon on the night of her death." Tony said solemnly.  
"Those bastards." He said storming into the elevator to see Abby.

"Abs, are you okay?" He asked as he entered the lab which was completely silent.  
"Yeah. I'm coping." Abby said not hiding the fact that it did disturb her. The fact that she had seen her mother like that when she was nine, had haunted enough of her life and driven her into her preferred attire.  
"Where is it?" He asked scanning the desk for pictures.  
"Don't touch it. I may be able to get prints off it and then find out where the photo was developed, and when." She said at once.  
"Abs, if you want me to get someone else to handle the evidence." He offered.  
"No. Not for this." She said instantly and he pulled her into a hug.  
"Okay. Would it be better if I left DiNozzo here?" He asked pulling away slightly.  
"How is he going to help?" She asked not knowing why he would say that.  
"He can do whatever you ask him to, plus offer moral support for you when you need it." Gibbs explained.  
"Why him?" She asked curiously watching his face for a reaction.  
"Oh please Abby. You think a father doesn't know who his daughter is with?" He said leaving the lab.  
"You know you are getting sneakier the older you get." She called after him.  
"Not to mention better looking." He called back.

"Tony, Abby's lab. And you are there to help her and offer support so no funny business." He instructed.  
"Boss?"  
"I'm on to you. You hurt her, I kill you. Simple. Now go." He said quickly.  
"I would never hurt her, Boss." He said sincerely and then raced off to the elevator.  
"This day just keeps getting more and more enlightening." Kate said as she continued to search Abby's phone records. "That suddenly explains the calls from DiNozzo to Abby everyday. Weird."

"You told him?" Tony asked as he entered the lab.  
"No. He knew already." Abby said turning her attention back to the letter she was currently polymerizing with cyanoacrylate vapor (superglue vapor).  
"Really. Well aside from threatening my life if I hurt you, he was pretty okay with it." Tony said coming up behind Abby and putting his chin on her shoulder.  
"Told you. So what brings you back here already? Did he seriously ask you to come here to help me and offer support?" Abby asked removing the letter out of the fuming container with tweezers.  
"Yeah." He said moving so she could get to the desk.  
"Since you're here and have been instructed by the Boss to help me…" Abby started.

CHAPTER 6.

"What have you got to tell me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he finally returned from the lab.  
"Abby is amazing." He said happily.  
"I know that, tell me why?" Gibbs said.  
"Aside from the obvious reasons, she also found out where the stationary came from."  
"Where?"  
"An exclusive shop called 'Sierra's.'" He said reading off the report Abby had given him.  
"Bastards." Gibbs swore.  
"What's the matter?"  
"Shannon worked there up until the day she was murdered. She took Kelly there almost everyday, the customers loved her and how well she spoke to them and confident she was." Gibbs explained.  
"Is. She's still like that and she is very much alive." Tony reminded him, seeing as he reverted back to calling her Kelly and referred to her in the past tense.  
"I know that Tony. Kelly had to die with her mother and not only have to deal with the loss of a parent but also the loss of everything she knew and loved. Then she had to deal with leaving behind herself, no person should have to, especially at nine." Gibbs said angrily.  
"Abby is resilient and has grown up just fine." Tony said.  
"Yes, we have gotten used to her quirks but she has had to grow into her own since everything happened."  
"I can't even imagine what she would have gone through." Tony said.  
"Look Tony, I am going to be perfectly honest with you because I'm a bastard. I am not happy with you pursuing Abby. Call me over-protective. But if I did have to choose a person that would be able to help her through this and who I could trust the most." He said patting him on the back before going back into the elevator.  
"Whoa." Tony said.  
"I think that was actually a compliment." Kate said from her position behind the desk.  
"I think so. So this is what it feels like." Tony said not moving at all.

"Abby, I know this is an impossible question but remember when you used to go to work with your mother?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you remember anyone taking a particular interest in you or your mother?" He said knowing it would have been impossible for her to remember.  
"Actually, there was one guy." Abby said trying to remember as much as she could. She remembered going to work with her mother because she got a lot of attention and all the other people that worked there loved her and treated her like a princess. Plus, the manager, Sue, let her play around on the computer.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Kelly, so nice you could come with your Mommy." Sue said from behind the counter.  
"Hi. Can I play on the computer?" She asked hopefully.  
"Kelly, you are on the computer constantly at home and then you have your laptop. Why don't you help Mom stock up all the shelves?"  
"Okay."**_

"Shannon, looking as stunning as ever."  
"Cameron, how are you?" She asked sweetly.  
"Same old. Much better now that I ran into you. You still with that husband of your's?" He asked.  
"Yes, Cameron. Kelly, you remember Mr. Thomas?"  
"Yes, doesn't mean I like him." Kelly said defiantly and then continued messing with the envelopes.  
"Kelly, apologize right now." Shannon tried.  
"To him? Yeah right." She scoffed and Shannon knew that she was stubborn but had never seen her like that.  
"Kelly, go out the back and wait for me." She said more sternly.  
"Watch him, Mom. I don't trust him." She said walking away and looking back at him, glaring as best as she could.  
"I am so sorry about that." She heard her mother say.

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"What is it Abs?" He asked as she zoned out for a minute.  
"There was a guy. He had come in before and I had seen him a few times. I didn't like him." Abby said scrunching up her nose.  
"Do you remember his name by any chance? Or what he looked like?" Gibbs asked hopefully.  
"Cameron…Thomas. Tall, dark hair cut like your's." Abby said doing the best she could.  
"Cameron Thomas? Are you sure?" He asked.  
"Yeah. I don't think he liked you." Abby said remembering another incident.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Mom, why does he keep coming here?" Kelly asked.  
"Kelly, be nice. I hated how you spoke to him last time." Shannon warned.  
"He deserved it. He is up to no good." She said eyeing the man as he walked suavely up to the counter.  
"Kelly!"  
"Shannon, always taking my breath away."  
"Hello, how are you doing today Cameron?" She asked politely.  
"Great. Nice to see you again, Kelly. Hope there are no hard feelings about last time." He said as if he was talking to a four year old.  
"Bite me." She snapped and then moved away.  
"She definitely has her father's sting."  
"Well. What brings you here today?"  
"Just here to see you, My love." He said charmingly. Kelly was ready to gag when she heard that from where she was sitting near Sue. She wouldn't tolerate her parents talking like that and some stranger talking to her mother like that drove her insane.  
"You haven't called me that since we broke up." Shannon pointed out suddenly very uncomfortable.  
"I hate that we did break up. It was all Gibbs' fault though."  
"Is that what you think?"  
"Of course. I have always blamed him. If he hadn't of come along and ruined it all for us, we would still be together." Cameron said.  
"Stay away from this place. Get out now!" Shannon said with all the authority she could muster.  
"Yeah." Kelly yelled after him.**_

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"How come you never told me any of this?" Gibbs asked as Abby explained.  
"I discussed it with Mom and then that same day, he died I think."  
"That's right. In a car-accident. That would have been less than a week before your mother's death." Gibbs said knowingly.  
"So he faked his own death and went under-ground. Hired Cleary to take out Mom because she had rejected him and moved on and me because I was not only a witness but I was also a mouthy little creature." Abby said and they had both just figured out what had happened. Now they just had to find out who Cameron was these days and where he was. Also, if he had hired more goons to do his dirty work.

CHAPTER 7.

"I want to know where Cameron Thomas went after he faked his own death, who helped him and how he got in contact with Cleary." Gibbs delegated as he went through the squad room.  
"On it, Boss." The three said in unison.  
"Where are you going?" Tony asked at the risk of getting hit.  
"To pay Cleary a visit." Gibbs said as he entered the elevator.  
"Want me to come with you, Boss?" Tony asked before the doors closed.  
"If I wanted you to, I would have said it." Gibbs said holding the doors from closing. Then he let them close and he was gone.

"What's up, Abs?" Tony asked as Abby came into the squad room with her cell phone.  
"Where is the Boss-man?" She asked starting to sound a little agitated.  
"He went to talk to Cleary?" McGee said.  
"What? And no one went with him?" She asked going into full panic mode.  
"He didn't want us. I even offered." Tony tried.  
"He killed my mother, how could you let him leave to see that scum?" She asked all of them.  
"We didn't have a choice. No one tells Gibbs what to do, and he was going." Tony tried and put a comforting hand on Abby's shoulder.  
"McGee, can you take care of the lab for me. Turn off the computers, lock up all of that." She asked him.  
"Sure, Abs."  
"Why?" Tony asked.  
"I have to go after him now, don't I?" She asked rhetorically.  
"No, you don't."  
"One thing you must remember, I am Gibbs' daughter and I have inherited his stubbornness along with his ability to get what he wants." She said getting out of Tony's grasp.  
"Alright, but you are not going alone." Tony said.  
"You have work to do." She said making for the elevator.  
"I don't care. There is no way you are going out of here while there is someone after you with a grudge. And then to go to the prison where the man that murdered your Mom and shot you is? No way." He repeated.  
"Fine, come on." She said grabbing his hand and pulling him with her into the elevator.

"McGee." He answered the lab phone as he continued shutting everything down.  
"Put Abby on." Gibbs instructed.  
"She's not here, Boss." He said hesitantly.  
"Well, where the hell is she, McGee?" He asked.  
"On the way to the prison." He said.  
"Why the hell?" Gibbs yelled.  
"Abby insisted so then Tony agreed to it, only if he came with her. She was going to leave either way." McGee explained.  
"I don't care how much she insisted. There is someone after her that wants her dead. She shouldn't be out of the building." Gibbs ranted continuing to yell.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Gibbs, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Shannon."  
"Thomas, how did you find such a gorgeous woman?" Gibbs asked.  
"Thank you. It's nice to meet you." Shannon said shyly.  
"Gibbs and I are in the Marines together. Gibbs, Shannon and I met in high school and have been together since." Thomas said proudly.  
"It's a pleasure." Gibbs said taking Shannon's out-stretched hand.**_

"So will you be my best-man?" Gibbs asked.  
"Are you kidding me? First you steal her away from me." He ranted.  
"Cameron, you two were long broken up before I even started dating her. I did not steal her away." Gibbs said getting angry.  
"She broke up with me because of you." He snapped.  
"Did she say that?" Gibbs asked.  
"Not exactly but I know it."  
"And haven't you got another girlfriend?" Gibbs asked.  
"I wouldn't call her that. Plus, Shannon was the love of my life, how could you take that from me?"  
"If she was, you wouldn't have cheated on her. While you treated her like crap, she kept faithful to you."  
"How could you do that to me and then dare to ask me to be part of your wedding?" Thomas fumed.  
"You know what, forget it." Gibbs said.  
"Good. You can both go to hell for all I care."  
"Great. Just stay away from us."

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"Abby, where the hell are you?"  
"Don't get all snappy at me now. Where the hell are you?" She yelled back.  
"On my way back to NCIS." He said.  
"Tony, turn back to NCIS." She instructed him and then continued the phone conversation. "Good, we need to have a few words."  
"Yes, we do." He said back gruffly. It would have been hard to determine which of them was more pissed off.

CHAPTER 8.

"Abby, how could you leave NCIS when you know what these people are capable of?" Gibbs asked angrily as he they congregated in the squad room.  
"Same to you. You know they have a grudge against you too." Abby asked countering her fathers stance.  
"And how could you let her leave?" Gibbs asked Tony who was sitting on the edge of his desk avoiding the obvious stand-off with Abby and Gibbs.  
"Don't blame Tony. It was all me and I was going with or without him. Plus I wouldn't have had to come after you if you stayed in the building." Abby said putting it back on him.  
"Okay. But don't do it again while we are investigating." He said calmly.  
"Yes, Sir." She said formally putting her hand up in a salute.  
"And don't call me Sir either." He said.  
"Yes, Ma'am."

"Where are you staying tonight?" Gibbs asked as he went to check up on Abby.  
"What do you mean?" She asked.  
"You're not staying in your apartment alone." He instructed.  
"Maybe I'll get Tony to stay over." She said and the grin on her face was not good for a father to see according to the context.  
"You'll stay at my place until Thomas is gone." He ordered.  
"Fine, but I am going out with Tony first." She said ordering right back.  
"No you are not." He said.  
"Gibbs." She said warningly.  
"Abby." He said right back the way she had.  
"Dad." She said putting on the puppy-dog eyes.  
"Fine, he can come over too but you aren't leaving the house." He said trying to take back the authority.  
"Why do I suddenly feel like a child again?" Abby asked putting her hands on her hips.  
"I don't know." Gibbs lied.  
"Okay, I'm staying at your's and I have to move my date into your living room. And I know that you feel the need to be over-protective and I know that is what father's do. However, I am an adult so Tony and I may kiss or hug or something affectionate and it is totally allowed." She said trying to take the authority back.  
"I need coffee." He said leaving the lab without any other protest.

"What's the matter?" Abby asked as Tony didn't seem to be himself.  
"Nothing." He said shifting in the couch so Abby had to move where she was leaning on him while they were watching the movie.  
"Tell me." She said turning around so she was facing him.  
"Where's Gibbs?" He asked looking around the place.  
"The basement. Why?" Abby asked.  
"This is just really weird." He said honestly.  
"What? We have stayed in before."  
"Yeah, at your place or mine."  
"Same thing." Abby said putting her legs over his.  
"Not really." He said shifting again.  
"You're not shy are you because you're in the Boss' house sitting on his couch with his daughter?" She asked sitting up properly.  
"No." He tried.  
"Then kiss me." She said moving closer to him but leaving enough room that he would have to make the move.  
"I'm not shy but I also don't have a death wish." Tony said.  
"Come on." She said running her fingers along his jaw how he liked.  
"No Abby." He said sitting back trying to pretend he was watching the movie.  
"Fine." She said getting up and then sitting back down on his lap facing him.  
"Abs." He tried in protest but his arms were already around her waist.  
"Yes." She asked putting her arms around his neck.  
"Can we not right now?" He asked but the fact that he couldn't will himself to let go of her made his argument unsuccessful.  
"Kiss me first." She said.  
"Abs."  
"You know what. This is much better than the couch." She said getting comfortable leaving her arms around his neck running her hands over the bottom of his hairline at the back and then put her head down on his shoulder nuzzling in like a kitten.  
"Okay." He said finally and her head shot up with excitement.  
"Really? How very naughty in the Boss' house?" She teased.  
"You finally convinced me and now you are changing my mind again." He said.  
"Okay, sorry." She said leaning in and kissing him receiving no complaints on his end as it deepened in passion, as Tony forgot where he was and everything he was doing other than kissing Abby.  
"Thank you." She said as they parted, finally having gotten her way.  
"Now will you get off me?" He asked praying that Gibbs wouldn't walk in while she was still there.  
"I never thought I would hear you say that to me." Abby teased.  
"I'd hoped never to hear it out of your mouth in my living room to my daughter." Gibbs said from behind the kitchen counter.

"Abby, go up to bed." Tony whispered to her trying to wake her.  
"No." She said back sleepily.  
"Okay. I can take you there of you want." He offered and went to pick her up when her eyes opened.  
"No. I want to stay right here." She said defiantly. She was leaning on his chest but he wasn't uncomfortable and had fallen asleep himself like that.  
"Okay, but you have to let me get up so I can leave and you can get more comfortable." He tried and she was already falling back to sleep.  
"Don't leave." She said simply.  
"Abs, I have to."  
"No you don't. I'll move if you are uncomfortable but I don't think you are." She said. She could even get him when she was in and out of sleep.  
"Honestly no, but if Gibbs gets up in the morning and sees me here and us he will smack me to death."  
"Don't be so afraid of him. He was just teasing you earlier. So get comfortable however you want cos you ain't leaving."  
"I am fine like this."  
"Good." She said and before he could say another word she was asleep again and he was too not long after.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Meet your healthy daughter. Congratulations." The nurse said handing the new baby to him.  
"Thank you." He said unable to take his eyes off the tiny creature in his arms.  
"Jethro, what are we going to name her?" Shannon asked.  
"Don't worry about that now. You need rest, you did so well. I love you." He said kissing his wife and then the baby on the head.**_

"Daddy, can I hold your gun?" Kelly asked.  
"No baby. This is for Daddy only, because it is too dangerous."  
"One day?" She asked hopefully.  
"When you are a lot older I will think about it." He promised.  
"I am four but." She protested.  
"Four is too young for guns, Kel. Why don't you go help Mom make dinner?"  
"I don't cook." She said instantly.  
"Okay."

"Kel, did your mother give you a full cup of coffee to give me?" He asked suspiciously as the seven year old handed him the half full cup.  
"Yeah." She said honestly.  
"And you drank it on the way?" He asked.  
"Yeah." She admitted.  
"It wasn't too hot?" He asked shocked.  
"No."  
"Or too strong?" He asked.  
"No. It's the best." She said and walked away. "I'll get you another one but." She said.  
"Kelly, don't worry about it. I'll get it." He said and they went back upstairs together.

"How was school?" He asked as she entered the kitchen.  
"Great." She beamed and continued bouncing around the house. He didn't know where all that energy came from but assumed it would die down as she got older.  
"Good. Did you borrow my camera again?" He asked.  
"Yeah. I'll just get it for you." She said running upstairs.  
"Great. Another roll of film to develop of burned out hulks of the trashed cars." He muttered to himself.  
"What are you ranting about?" Shannon asked.  
"Nothing. Kelly borrowed my camera again."  
"She still sneaking into the lot next door and taking pictures?" Shannon asked.  
"Yeah."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Gibbs walked back into the living room and just looked at the woman that his little girl had become. How could he not want to be over-protective of her, he had lost enough time with her and he wasn't ever going to give her up. He grabbed a blanket out of the linen closet and pulled it over her and the other man who would die for her if he had to. He never would have pictured it or encouraged it but seeing them like that and how great he was for her, was a great feeling for him at that moment. He would never tell them but they were a great couple and if he had to choose the right guy for his daughter, he knew she had done it.  
"Love you, Abs." He whispered kissing her forehead.  
"Love you too, Dad." She answered in her sleep.

CHAPTER 9.

"So what are we doing today?" Abby asked.  
"I think Gibbs wants us at work." Tony said sitting back down at the table.  
"Better not." She said getting up.

"Do we seriously have to go to work today?" Abby asked at the top of the stairs of the basement.  
"There is still a crazy man after you. So yes." He said.  
"Whatcha doing?" She asked attention to the previous topic gone, like a child.  
"I got a new part for my boat today so I am just preparing the shell for it." He explained.  
"Where is it?" She asked.  
"On the counter over there." He pointed and then continued to saw.  
"You haven't opened it yet?" She asked as she picked up the box still wrapped in brown paper, addressed to Gibbs from the boat parts place he always ordered from.  
"No."  
"Okay, come upstairs and have breakfast."  
"I already had it." He said.  
"Coffee?" She said.  
"Yes. Like every other morning." He said finishing off the brew in his cup.  
"Not this morning, Tony made waffles." She said taking the saw off him.  
"Tony can cook?" He asked shocked.  
"Yes, very well. So come on."  
"No."  
"Dad, don't make me guilt you into coming upstairs." She said grabbing his arm and pulling him up the stairs.  
"So, Tony stayed, huh?" He asked.  
"Yes, you saw that when you brought the blanket out for us." She pointed out.  
"Oh yeah. Where did you get that t-shirt from?" He asked as they reached the top of the stairs.  
"Your closet for after my shower this morning."  
"You could have gotten pants too." He pointed out.  
"Why?" She asked looking down at herself.  
"Tony." He reminded her.  
"I know you don't want to hear about this as much as I don't want to tell you, but Tony has seen me in less." She revealed.  
"Abby."  
"What? I know you want to remain in denial about me growing up and also about Tony and I, but you have to come to terms with that." She said as they entered the kitchen.  
"What's going on?" Tony asked as they both sat down.  
"Just talking to my father about sex." Abby blurted out.  
"Boss, we didn't, I swear we just went to sleep on the couch…" He started stuttering.  
"Relax, Tony." Abby warned.  
"I know you wouldn't because you know that I would not hesitate to shoot you." Gibbs said without looking up from the plate he had in front of him.  
"I know."

"Where's Abby?" Tony asked as he came down the stairs.  
"Living room. She's doing something on her laptop." He said unknowingly.  
"Okay." Tony said sitting down at the kitchen table. As soon as he did he heard a large explosion that made his brain think for sure that he was deaf after that. They both dropped to the ground like always in those situations with all their training.  
"Abby!" Gibbs yelled shooting up from his position from the floor into the living room. There was a gaping hole in the floor where most of the explosion penetrated the area above the basement that took most of the force.  
"Where is she?" Tony yelled panicking as well as they looked around the room for her. Both of them felt like their heart was being squashed slowly by someone.  
"Over there." Gibbs pointed out running over to pull the bookshelf off his daughter.  
"I'll call an ambulance." Tony said quickly pulling his phone out of his pocket.  
"Hurry."

"How are you feeling, Abs?" Gibbs asked as she slowly woke up. All he knew was that she alive but the tests they needed to make sure there was no permanent damage were still under-way.  
"Are you my new doctor?' She asked looking at his clothing.  
"No. You seriously don't know who I am?" He asked looking at her face for signs that she was fooling around.  
"No, sorry. Are you sure we've met?" She asked trying to think.  
"Abby. I didn't know you had woken up." Tony said entering the room with the biggest smile on his face. He approached the bed and even though Gibbs was there he was so relieved that she was alive that he kissed her passionately in front of him.  
"Wow. I'm not clear on who you are but I have absolutely no complaints about that." She said smiling too.  
"Abby has amnesia, Tony." Gibbs said.  
"The doctor didn't say anything when he just told me…" He started.  
"I don't think he knows yet." Gibbs said.  
"Okay, so I get that my name is Abby and cutie's name is Tony. How about some more information?" Abby asked.  
"I'm your father." Gibbs said sadly.  
"Okay, Dad." She said then started giggling. "Why was that really weird for me to say to you?" She asked.  
"Really long story. Tell you later." Gibbs said.  
"Okay."

"Cutie, you're back." Abby said loudly as he went back into the room after receiving a few results from the doctor.  
"Abby. How are you holding out?" He asked trying to act as normal as possible.  
"I can't stand this place. And I don't know why, but I really want to get to work." She said confused.  
"Yeah you would. You love that place so much." He said smiling at her.  
"Where is that place I so desperately want to get to?" She asked.  
"NCIS."  
"What?"  
"Naval Criminal Investigative Services." He said for her and then grabbed her ID out of her bag that was stored away in the drawer.  
"Cool. What do I do?" She asked looking at the card he gave her with her picture on and other details about her.  
"Forensic science." He said.  
"Wow, that sounds like fun. Isn't it hard?" Abby said frowning to herself.  
"Yes, but you have an incredible mind. You're the smartest person I have ever met." He admitted.  
"What's our deal?" She asked. He knew to get used to her asking a million questions now, that was to be expected.  
"What do you mean?" He asked.  
"I assume you don't kiss everyone like that." She said smiling and touching his hand.  
"No. Our deal? Well, we have been together for about six months, but we had known each other from work for years. Your father is our Boss and we were at his house when the bomb went off." Tony explained sadly.  
"Bomb?" She asked. "Why did a bomb go off at my father's house?" She asked.  
"Well that is a really long story. Another one for later." He said trying to get out of it.  
"Okay but later is gonna be filled with long stories. Six months? Do we live together?"  
"We had just decided to. The only thing is that not everyone knows about us, especially at work. My partner Kate, is your best-friend and she didn't even know until a few days ago." He explained.  
"Why the secrecy? Are you married or something?"  
"No. Your ex is also our co-worker and even though he has a new girlfriend… we just weren't ready for them to know." He said.  
"Geez, it really seems like a close team. My father is the Boss and my ex and current boyfriends work together along side my best friend and myself. How do we get any work done?" She asked and he had to laugh.  
"I ask myself that everyday." Gibbs said as he walked into the room.  
"Dad. Just finding out about my life. Anything you want to add?" She asked.  
"Not yet."

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Tony, what brings you to my humble lab at this hour?" Abby asked twirling around in her chair.  
"What are you still doing here?" He asked.  
"I could ask you the same thing. I have tests to run." She said.  
"I was just finishing my work and thinking that I haven't had dinner yet. Care to join me?" He asked.  
"Tony, are you asking me out?" She said with a sinister grin on her face.  
"Do you want me to be asking you out?" He said.  
"Don't get all cryptic. You are, aren't you? She said teasing him.  
"Fine, I am."  
"Since when are you shy with women?" She asked him.  
"You're not anyone Abs."  
"Thank you. And I accept your dinner offer, Tony." She said jumping into his arms like when he came back from recovering from Y-Pestis.  
"Great."  
"Lets get a pizza and stay here so I can get the test running and we can still have all the privacy we want." She said still in his arms.  
"I think I love you." Tony said at the mention of his two favorite things at that moment were being put together. Abby and pizza in a semi-quiet lab with no one else around but them at the start of what seemed like it was going to be a great relationship.**_

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Tony couldn't even try to sleep without being disturbed by dreams about Abby. That wasn't usually a bad thing but then they all ended with that deafening explosion. And worse, the knowledge that she barely knew who he was. He kept falling asleep though.

_"Mr. DiNozzo. She didn't make it. I'm sorry."  
"What?" Tony asked in shock.  
"The damage from the bookcase slowly made her bleed internally. There was nothing we could do."  
"Yes, there was and you screwed up. Admit it." Tony said grabbing the doctors collar and holding him tightly.  
"Sir, please."_

"It's true Tony." Gibbs said sadly as he came out of Abby's room with tears running down his face, unintentionally.  
"It can't be." Tony said dropping to the floor letting it all out. Every emotion he was feeling was ready to burst through his body and as soon as he let go, it was an out-pour.  
"I know. She knew she was going." Gibbs said.  
"Did she say anything?"  
"Yes."  
"What was it?" Tony asked trying to pull himself together.  
"She said that even though she didn't understand it, to tell you, "Sorry you'll never get an AD." Gibbs said.  
"Oh my God. She really said that?" He asked through more tears.  
"Yeah. What does it mean?" Gibbs asked.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Alright but not as a first name. I will allow it as a middle name but I hate that whole junior thing where half the boys in the family have the same name. Tell me, what number Anthony are you?"  
"Four."  
"See? So if we do ever have kids which I doubt, the second two initials can be AD." She reasoned.  
"Deal. And it's possible we may have kids one day." Tony said cuddling up closer next to Abby on the couch.  
"We probably will but it will be in many, many years. Many years." She said.  
"Okay, so a boy will have my name as a middle name so a girl can have your name as a middle." He tried.  
"So, it will still be AD?" Abby asked.  
"Yeah. We can call it our AD pact for the far away future."  
"Deal." She said putting her head on his shoulder.**_

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Tony woke up again and this time he was crying. He didn't know if it was because he was crying in his dream so he was just projecting or by the intensity of the dream. He believed it and still at that moment felt he needed confirmation that Abby was okay. He washed his face and tried to fix his appearance in some way.

"Sir, visiting hours are over." The nurse tried as he walked through the quiet ward.  
"Don't try me lady." He said storming passed her counter.

"Gibbs, is Abby okay?" He asked as she was asleep again and he was sitting next to the bed with her hand in his.  
"Same. Yes."  
"Sir, you have to leave unless you are family cos they are the only ones allowed to stay outside visiting hours." The nurse said storming in after Tony.  
"He is family so you can leave now." Gibbs said and the nurse scurried off so fast she nearly ran into the wall. It was incredible how much intimidation he could cause simply by speaking. Not yelling, speaking.  
"Thanks Gibbs. That got rid of her." Tony said laughing.  
"I meant that Tony." He said looking up at Tony.  
"Thank you. That means so much to me."  
"All that aside, you look like hell. What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked.  
"I tried to sleep but with Abby in the hospital with possible head injuries, it wasn't easy. And when I did fall asleep, it wasn't pleasant." He said cringing.  
"What?" He asked.  
"You don't want to know."  
"Death dreams. You don't think I have had those all the time since she was nine and in critical condition?" Gibbs asked.  
"So they don't go away?" Tony asked.  
"If you talk about it, it seems to help. Poor Ducky gets it all from me." Gibbs said softly.  
"You seriously don't want to know."  
"I can take it. Trust me, saying it and then knowing that it isn't true, really helps." Gibbs urged him.  
"Okay. Abby had got internal bleeding and then the doctor came out to tell me that she had d… You know. So then I wouldn't believe it until you came out and told me. Then you told me what she had said before she died and I was finished. I even woke up crying." Tony said, his eyes glazing over. He wanted to wake Abby at that second to make sure that he was still wrong.  
"What had she said?" Gibbs asked.  
"Oh, you wouldn't understand it. But because it related to what we really did think in life, it scared me and I thought it was real." Tony said.  
"Personal?" Gibbs asked.  
"Yeah. One day we can tell you, I hope." He said and got a stupid grin on his face praying that Abby was wrong in his dream.

CHAPTER 10.

"How's Abby?" Kate asked as Tony sadly walked into the squad-room.  
"Same. They want to release her tomorrow but she still has no memory other than what we have told her so far." Tony explained and slumped down into his seat.  
"What are you doing here then? You should be with Abby."  
"Yes, I should but Gibbs is with her and I have to find out who did this to her so when she does come back there isn't a crazy killer still after her. Wait, why should I be with Abby?" He asked finally clicking that she knew too much.  
"Oh, please. Like I don't know." She huffed.  
"How do you know?" He asked curiously.  
"I am a skilled profiler and special agent." She said automatically.  
"Okay, how do you really know?" He asked.  
"I called her cell the day of the explosion and you picked it up." She said and he thought about it for a second.  
"Oh, that was Abby's phone?" He asked trying to remember.  
"It has a bat on the front and a spider on the back." She said.  
"Oh yeah. Well that doesn't mean anything." He said.  
"You stayed at Gibbs' house, at the same time as Abby and was close enough to her that you would mix up your cells and pick hers up before she did."  
"Still doesn't mean anything but, I may as well admit it. Yes, we have been seeing each other." He admitted.  
"How long?" She asked.  
"Six months."  
"No way. There is no chance you two have been dating that long and no one else knows." She said putting her hands on her hips refusing to believe it.  
"Yep. Pretty good huh?" He asked.  
"Yeah. I didn't you had subtlety in your abilities." She teased.  
"Well enough to fool you." He threw back.

"Kate can I ask you a question?" He asked later that day.  
"Yeah, I think." She said scared about what it was going to be by the look on her face.  
"I know this isn't something you want to recall but, when you were helping Suzanne McNeil on the Buried alive Jane Doe case, how did you help her remember everything?" He asked. At the mention of the woman that betrayed Kate, he saw her flinch but could tell she was ready to talk about it.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Maybe if I see where I work and see people. Real people, I'll remember." Suzanne urged her.**_

"I think I have a coat like this."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah, the material, the texture, these buttons. I'm positive." Suzanne said confidently.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"Things seemed to trigger her memory. Feels, smells, sounds. Situations. And you already have all the information you need on Abby that it is easy to tell her anything she needs to know about herself. With Suzanne, we didn't even know her name for ages. Oh, and you could show Abby her file, that might help. Take her to her apartment and let her see things that are her's and define her identity."  
"Thanks, Kate." He said taking notes from everything spilling out of her mouth.

"Cutie. Please tell me you are breaking me out of this place?" She asked.  
"I am."  
"Oh, I love you so much." She said. "Do I get a kiss?" She asked.  
"What? You barely know me." He reminded her.  
"Hey, we have been in a relationship for long enough and I have already kissed you so I think I deserve another." She pouted.  
"Abs, it isn't the same." He said taking a seat on the bed next to her.  
"Okay, how about one on the cheek?" She asked hopefully.  
"Okay." He said leaning forward ready to redefine their relationship in a bad way when she turned her head and grabbed the back of his neck, her lips meeting his like they had done when she had just woken a few days before.  
"Much better." She commented.

CHAPTER 11.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Kelly, stay with me baby." She heard a voice saying to her and it felt like she was being crushed. Her head was also pounding and she wasn't aware of anything else around her other than voices and pain.**_

"She's barely conscious, we need to get her into surgery now." The doctor yelled above all the noise and thumping in her head. The pain was so enormous that she would scream out if she could, she wanted them to know how badly she was suffering and whatever they were doing wasn't working."

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

Abby woke up crying and grabbing her head which was still lagging behind the dream. She screamed out now able to verbalize the pain she felt. Tony came running up to her from where he was sitting near the bed.  
"Abby, it's okay. I'm here." He said holding her as she calmed down.  
"It hurt so bad." She said between sniffs trying to settle down. Being held by the man who loved her helped.  
"I know, but they have taken care of you here and you'll be fine." Tony said still holding her in a tight hug for her comfort and his.  
"It wasn't right. I was feeling someone else's pain." Abby said.  
"What do you mean?" He asked pulling back to be able to look at her face. He sat on the edge of the bed right next to her and just listened.  
"I was feeling the pain to my head and my chest but everyone speaking to me was calling me Kelly so.." She started and talking was allowing her to get her voice back properly.  
"Oh, Kelly." He said realizing what was going on.  
"Who is she?" Abby asked insistently.  
"Well. Guess it's time for your story isn't it." He said getting comfortable up against her legs on the bed.  
"Guess so."  
"Well, that was you. When you were nine, your name was Kelly and you and your mother were shot by a hitman that had been hired to come after you both." He started.  
"In the head and the chest?" She said still feeling a little numb in both places.  
"Yes. You survived but your mother…" He said and it was so hard to remind someone of such a tragedy years after it happened.  
"I know she died."  
"You do? So anyway, the only way to protect you then was to pretend that you had died and change your name." He said.  
"Whoa. Same guy that set off the bomb in my father's house?" Abby asked trying to take in as much as possible.  
"Yes, most likely. Or he hired someone again to come after you. They found out that you had survived and where you were so that's why you were injured again." He said.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Baby, I don't want to leave you and you know it but it's for the best." Gibbs said to her as he left her at the house.  
"No, don't go, Daddy." She had called after him and started crying. The older woman had picked her up and brought her inside.**_

"Hi, I'm Andrew. You must be my new sister." The little boy said smiling at her.  
"I think so. I want to stay with my dad but." She whined.  
"I know. This is my mum Gloria and my dad Steven." He introduced.  
"How come they wont talk to me, don't they like me?" Abby asked.  
"They're deaf. They don't speak very well." Andrew said.  
"Oh." She said understanding. She looked around at what would be her new home and sighed.  
"It's okay, cos it is really easy to sign to them and you will learn it very quickly."  
"I hope so."  
"What's your name?" He asked. He was about eight years old.  
"Kel…um, I don't know. I have to speak to my dad." She said.

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"Abby, what is it?" He asked as he saw her lose attention for a minute.  
"Nothing. I think I remember a few things." She said trying to recall it all. "Do I know sign language?" She asked.  
"Yeah, you did. I don't know if you can remember it though." He said sadly.  
"Um…" She thought for a second and then started moving her hands. "I think so." She said proudly.  
"That's a good start." Tony said glad that she was recalling something.

"This is vaguely familiar." Abby said as she wandered around Tony's and almost her apartment.  
"It should be. It is purely you." He said helping her get comfortable on the couch.  
"Nice place." She commented.  
"Thanks. I'll be right back." He said bolting into the bedroom.  
"Okay." She said and within seconds he ran back with a few photo's in hand when he sat next to her.  
"Where was this?" She asked picking up the first picture.  
_(A/N: See pic 1 'what had to be done' in my profile)_  
"Habitats for humanity charity fundraiser. You got one of your friends to take that picture and then gave it to me." He said looking over her shoulder.  
"Why, it's cute. Why didn't I keep it?" She asked looking at it.  
"You have a copy of it too."  
"And I thought you had perfect eyesight." She mocked.  
"I do. That is purely for looks. Wait you remember me saying that?" He asked.  
"Yeah. It had something to do with a key." She said.  
"Yeah. Wow, you remembered more things. That's great."  
"It's in and out. I have these thoughts about things I already know or remember when things happened and then the pieces all come together eventually. Where's the other picture you brought out?" She asked.  
"This is one of my favorites of us." He said giving it to Abby.  
_(A/N: See pic 2 'what had to be done' in my profile)_  
"Wow, that is sweet too. Where's that?" She asked.  
"Some party at your friend's house. Can't remember who took that one." He said.  
"Are we publicly affectionate usually?" She asked.  
"Yeah, depending on who's around. Never at work unless there was no one else in the lab in which case that isn't really public anyway." He said all at once.  
"Again with the glasses." She teases.  
"Yeah. You usually liked it." He reminded her.  
"Oh don't get me wrong, you look gorgeous but I would think it looks like you need them to see with you wearing them all the time." She said still looking at the picture.

_****FLASHBACK**  
"Tony, what brings you to my humble lab at this hour?" Abby asked twirling around in her chair.  
"What are you still doing here?" He asked.  
"I could ask you the same thing. I have tests to run." She said.  
"I was just finishing my work and thinking that I haven't had dinner yet. Care to join me?" He asked.  
"Tony, are you asking me out?" She said with a sinister grin on her face.  
"Do you want me to be asking you out?" He said.  
"Don't get all cryptic. You are, aren't you? She said teasing him.  
"Fine, I am."  
"Since when are you shy with women?" She asked him.  
"You're not anyone Abs."  
"Thank you. And I accept your dinner offer, Tony." She said jumping into his arms like when he came back from recovering from Y-Pestis.  
"Great."  
"Lets get a pizza and stay here so I can get the test running and we can still have all the privacy we want." She said still in his arms.  
"I think I love you." Tony said.**_

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"I remember you asking me out." Abby said as she picked up another slice of Pizza.  
"You do?" He asked with his mouth full.  
"Yeah. I think the pizza reminded me." She said.  
"Probably. Kate said there would be things that triggered your memory." He explained.  
"Yeah. You got all shy." She said reminding him.  
"Yeah, I prefer not remembering how I was that night." He said grabbing more pizza.  
"It was cute. Plus from what I remember it was a good night." She said.  
"That's true."

CHAPTER 12.

"I'll be back in a second, Abs." Tony called out as he went to the bathroom.  
"Okay." She said sitting back on the couch as there came a knock at the door. In an apartment building, Abby just suspected a neighbor wanted something.  
"Hello Kelly." The man said as Abby backed away from the door. Something about this guy scared her instantly.  
"Who the hell are you?" She yelled so Tony would know there was something up.  
"You don't remember me?" He asked pulling a knife out of his belt and waving it at Abby. That was when she remembered that voice and the hate she felt for him.  
"Cameron, what are you doing here?" She asked not understanding why he would be there trying to kill her.  
"I thought you were supposed to be so intelligent." He taunted advancing on her.

_****FLASHBACK****_

"Yes, Cameron. Kelly, you remember Mr. Thomas?"  
"Yes, doesn't mean I like him." Kelly said defiantly and then continued messing with the envelopes.  
"Kelly, apologize right now." Shannon tried.  
"To him? Yeah right." She scoffed and Shannon knew that she was stubborn but had never seen her like that.

"Nice to see you again, Kelly. Hope there are no hard feelings about last time." He said as if he was talking to a four year old.  
"Bite me." Kelly snapped and then moved away.  
"She definitely has her father's sting."

**END OF FLASHBACK** 

"Tony!" She yelled trying to get him out there to help her. He now had her gripped around her waist with the knife to her throat.  
"Abs!" He yelled as he came around the hallway with his gun drawn. "Let her go!"  
"Stay out of this, boyfriend." Cameron instructed and put the knife so that the point dug into her neck enough to cause a trickle of blood but to do no real danger.  
"Let her go, now!" He said getting increasingly angry.  
"You wouldn't shoot me or she's dead." He taunted and held Abby tighter.  
"You'd be dead before you tried it." Tony said. The door slams open as Cameron reached for it and there is a loud scream. From Abby.

The scene unfolded so quickly that the last standing are a little disorientated at first.  
"Dad." Abby said leaping forward grabbing her father in a hug.  
"Are you okay?" He asked surveying the blood on her neck as she pulled away slowly.  
"Now I am." She said honestly still a little shaken.  
"Good shot, Boss. Right through the middle of the back of his head." Tony reported from the ground where the only other person in the apartment lay dead.  
"I came to see how you were going here at Tony's house." he said.  
"So far so good." Abby joked and hugged him again. They both laughed.  
"I can see that." He said pointing to the body on the ground.  
"Okay, I remember hating him from when I was young but I have no idea who he was except that his name is Cameron." She reported waiting for more information.  
"I'll explain later. Did he hurt you?" Gibbs asked checking her for major injuries. The blood on her neck had already dried up and was done bleeding.  
"No, I'm fine. My heroes." She said looking at her boys there in front of her. She jumped into Tony's arms and then with her free arm dragged Gibbs over into a group hug.  
"Okay, Abs." Gibbs said finally.  
"One more second." She said comfortably.

"So, it's over now?" Abby asked hopefully as they sat for coffee after the body had been taken away and everyone questioned.  
"No. We need to make sure none of his contacts are after you and that he didn't hire anyone else to come after you." Gibbs stated sitting properly on the couch. "It was too stupid to come after you himself, he must have had a back up plan."  
"In case he was killed?" Tony scoffed.  
"I didn't say he was intelligent. But he was and always had been calculating. If it meant he had to die to get rid of Abby and I, then so be it." Gibbs explained.  
"Psycho." Tony muttered.  
"Yeah." Abby said listening in intently.

"Kate, I want Thomas' phone records, here is the list of all known aliases he used." Gibbs said dumping a file on her desk the morning after the most recent incident.  
"On it."  
"McGee, help Abby remember how to trace all the calls on his cell." Gibbs delegated. NCIS had been given the case without a fight, for once, it being a marine, killed in an agent's apartment by another agent in defence of another NCIS employee.  
"On it." He said instantly jumping up.  
"Tony, you and I are checking out his apartment." He instructed.  
"Okay, Boss."

"Boss, why are we stopping here?" Tony asked as Gibbs suddenly braked and pulled to the side of the road.  
"To talk." He said simply.  
"Okay." He said scared.  
"I have seen how much you care about Abby and even how your attitude has changed since you two got together." He started.  
"Thanks, Gibbs. I really love Abby." He confirmed.  
"However, as her father and your boss I have the right and the authority to ask you your intentions and you have to tell me." Gibbs countered.  
"Well, we had decided to move in together before the explosion and all that. So once all this is done we can finish moving the rest of Abby's things into my apartment." He started.  
"Good step. And then what?" He asked.  
"Well we hadn't planned that far ahead. We always spoke about this being a life-long thing, which just goes to show cos neither of us was ever one for settling down." Tony said happily.  
"Good answer." Gibbs said starting the car again.

CHAPTER 13.

"Nothing in here, Boss." Tony called coming out of the kitchen after checking the bedroom.  
"The living room is clear too." Gibbs called back.  
"No. I mean it is too empty for someone supposed to have been living here up to his death. This is usually what the apartments look like after they have made a run for it." Tony commented.  
"Explain."  
"Well, there is no food in the house, not in the cupboards or the fridge, no trash, no drugs in the medicine cabinet, clothes that are different sizes, including shoes. Looks like a staged house so nothing incriminating could be found and he thinks that we'd move on after checking this one." Tony explained.  
"So, he has another apartment." Gibbs concluded.  
"Exactly."

"Have you checked his credit card records yet?" Gibbs asked as he and Tony entered the squad-room. They had called NCIS and he told her to do that.  
"Yes, all eight of them." She complained. With several alias' it was not easy. "I am now on the last one under the name of Roger Demmit." She said.  
"Do any of them have a deposit or rent payments for an apartment other than the one on eighth and Lexington?" He asked.  
"One. Umm… I think it is on this statement." She said scanning one. "Yes, under the name David Starks. On June 12th he put a deposit on an apartment in Valencia, CA." She said reading off the paper.  
"Any other's?"  
"No."  
"Okay. McGee?" He asked.  
"Yes, Boss." McGee said putting his head up from the computer.  
"Any luck with Abby?"  
"She hasn't lost her touch, Boss. She can barely tell what she is doing but once her fingers hit a keyboard it was like she was possessed. It all came back to her."  
"Anything significant in his cell phone records?"  
"He made three calls to Cleary in prison." McGee revealed.  
"Pointless, Cleary isn't out for years to come."  
"Yes, but his cell-mate is up for parole in a week. Abby and I have a theory that they were relying on him getting out and then taking the job for them. Then he would be recruited by Thomas to come after Abby." McGee said.  
"And if the deal is already in place and the cell-mate doesn't know that Thomas is dead and wont be paying him for the job, he would be coming after her." Gibbs concluded.  
"Yes. We thought that if Thomas trusted Cleary enough to try and hire him after a failed attept, then he would be easily swayed into getting the cell-mate in on it too. Plus, you were already on his trail and Cleary's so a third party was the best decision." McGee said quickly.  
"Good job." Gibbs said walking away.  
"Thanks, Boss." McGee was grinning from ear to ear having received a compliment from him.  
"But I think that you are spending too much time with Abby." He said before getting in the elevator.  
"Boss?" He asked causing Gibbs to put his arm from stopping the elevator doors from closing.  
"You don't realize that you didn't breathe that whole time." Gibbs pointed out.  
"Didn't notice, Boss." He said honestly.  
"Exactly." Gibbs said letting the doors close in front of him.

"Abs?" Gibbs called into the lab.  
"Check this out. I just hacked your computer and upgraded your programs so they will run faster for you now." Abby said proudly after typing furiously on the computer.  
"Well done." he said and his lack of enthusiasm was not acceptable to Abby.  
"I know it doesn't seem like a big achievement for me but considering I didn't know my own name last week." Abby said.  
"No, I think it's great that you are getting all that knowledge back. I would hate to think that all those years at college would go to waste."  
"How many years?" She asked curiously.  
"Six, give or take." He said.  
"Wow. That must have set you back a bit." She cringed.  
"Actually you payed for most of it. And what you didn't pay for right away you payed for eventually." He said proudly.  
"I did?" She asked.  
"Yes. You have had an endless amount of jobs since you were fifteen."  
"Cool." She said thinking that sounded like fun.  
"So you think you'll remember all the surveillance intel before next week?" He asked.  
"Definitely." She said confidently.  
"The Director is organizing with the Parole Board to release Andrew Bricker, Cleary's cell-mate. Then we will have full surveillance on him until he tries something." He explained.  
"Okay."  
"Don't worry, Abs. Nothing else is going to happen to you. I'll make sure of that and there's another man who wouldn't let it happen either." He said rubbing her back.  
"He's pretty great, huh?" Abby asked and the smile on her face was insanely huge.  
"He's my best agent and he loves you to death, so yes."  
"Look at you getting all cushy. You getting soft on me, Bossman?" Abby asked poking his arm to tease him.  
"Realize what you just said?" He asked.  
"What?"  
"You called me Bossman." He pointed out.  
"Nice dodge of the question. Did I ever call you that?" She asked trying to think.  
"Yes, all the time. Since no one knew that we were related until recently, you stopped calling me dad when you started working here. Then you came up with all kinds of nicknames."

_****FLASHBACK****_

"Anything for you, my hero."

"Yes, Sir." She said saluting him.  
"Don't call me Sir."  
"Yes, Ma'am."

"Correct as always my silver haired fox... I mean Gibbs... sir... boss... "

"Golf India Bravo Bravo Sierra."

"I see your point oh great one."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

TWO WEEKS LATER

"Surveillance has him within 50ft of NCIS." The MTAC agents relayed to Gibbs via his phone as ordered.  
"Keep watching him. We don't want to blow our cover until he has done something we can put him back away for." Gibbs said and then got up wanting to be close to Abby in case something did happen.  
"Yes, Sir." Said the agent before Gibbs hung up on him.  
"Those idiots in MTAC call me Sir one more time after I have told them repeatedly not to do it, I'm gonna kick some ass." Gibbs said moving toward the elevator. McGee just laughed once he was out of hearing distance.

"Abs, there is no reason to worry." Tony tried.  
"I am just sick of this." She said and he pulled her into a comforting hug.  
At that second a perfect shot was achieved of Abby and the shooter pulled the trigger.  
"Are you okay?" Tony asked as when he heard the shot fire from outside the window then the glass shatter. He had pulled Abby down to the ground and the bullet narrowly passed them.  
"Are you okay?" He asked still on top of her.  
"Yeah. You're heavy." She said.  
"Sorry." He pulled her by arm against the desk out of view from the window.  
"It's all this muscle that makes you heavy." She said. "And your nice bootie too." She said slapping his ass as he sat up to look out the window.  
"Is this how you react to being shot at?" He asked.  
"I don't remember."  
"Abs." Gibbs called from the doorway having heard the shot in the elevator and getting there as fast as he could.  
"Boss, down. We've taken fire." He warned and Gibbs stayed on the ground to make his way to them.  
"You okay?" He asked pulling his daughter in close.  
"He's after me now. Another one. No place is safe." She said emotionally.  
"I'll keep you safe, Abby." He said kissing the top of her head.  
"You're just saying that to make me feel better." She said.  
"Is it working?"  
"A little. Can you say it again?"  
"No one is going to hurt you, Abby." He said trying to convince her.  
"Exactly." Tony said kissing her cheek.

"How the hell did you not notice him getting closer to the building carrying a sniper rifle aimed in the lab window?!" Gibbs yelled into MTAC.  
"Sir…" One started.  
"No, don't 'Sir' me and this is far from acceptable. What exactly was the point of the surveillance if the suspect is able to still take a shot at one of our own. Think about how badly that could have ended and thank Special Agent DiNozzo for saving you're asses. And don't think this will be forgotten." Gibbs warned. Then he stormed out leaving a very shaken and frightened group of people.

CHAPTER 14.

"Either tell me you got him or else leave right now." Gibbs said gruffly to the agents that were out after Bricker.  
"We got him, Agent Gibbs but there was a slight problem." The agent said fearfully.  
"Define slight problem." Gibbs instructed getting up from his desk.  
"Well you wanted him brought it to interrogation but he opened fire on us and there was no choice but for Agent Balboa to shoot him dead."  
"Okay." Gibbs said calmly.  
"Okay?" He asked.  
"Yes. Get back to work." He said and the agent scurried away.

"Abs, we got him." Gibbs said entering the lab.  
"What?" She asked having not heard him. So he signed it instead finding it faster than getting to the stereo and turning it off. Plus it was a force of habit with the two since she had taught him. "Great." She said having understood him running up and hugging him.  
"Yeah. And you remember how to sign too." Gibbs pointed out.  
"Yeah, I knew that when I remembered meeting the family that I stayed with after I was shot." She said.  
"Oh."  
"It's okay, Tony explained a lot of it to me." She said seeing his resistance.  
"I didn't want to leave you." Gibbs said quietly after Abby had already turned the music down.  
"I know that. It was _**what had to be done**_. And if I had hard feelings, I think I would know." Abby said hugging her father again.  
"Alright. How about lunch?" He asked.  
"With a Caf-Pow?" She asked hopefully.  
"Definitely." He said and she linked her arm with his as they left the lab.

"So are you and Tony going to get married?" He asked out of the blue.  
"Don't know. Do you think we should?" She asked.  
"I am the last person to give marriage advice." He said as they ordered and then resumed talking.  
"Why's that?"  
"I have been married three times." He informed her.  
"Really? That's a lot. Why?" She asked.  
"Don't know."

THE END


End file.
